Segregation vs interaction in the walkways: An analysis of pedestrians' perceptions

The promotion of soft mobility and particularly pedestrian mobility in urban areas is a key action to reduce the environmental and social costs related to the use of motorized transportation systems. Therefore, a such action represents a strategy towards a sustainable mobility. In order to encourage people to move on foot, attractive pedestrian paths should be designed and offered. From this perspective, it is fundamental to know people opinions about the provided pedestrian paths. In this paper, experimental data collected on a sample of pedestrians are analyzed. More specifically, two paths with different characteristics were selected: the first one is a path where pedestrians have an exclusive space to walk, while the second path is characterized by interactions between motorized modes and pedestrians. Interviewed people were asked to provide their sense of comfort, nuisance and protection concerning some aspects and elements that they experienced while walking. From the proposed analysis, interesting findings emerged. The results could be useful to identify convenient policies for managing pedestrian mobility.